EA Games Cleared of Fraud Over Battlefield 4

EA Games has been cleared of securities fraud by the US District CourtEA

Games studio Electronic Arts (EA) has been cleared of securities fraud on its Battlefield 4 game by the US District Court.

Last year, two plaintiffs, Ryan Kelly and Louis Mastrothe, filed a lawsuit against EA, claiming that statements made by EA executives falsely led investors to purchase shares in the company and into believing that the game Battlefield 4 was ready to launch.

According to Courthouse News, the pair have focussed their complaint on eight separate statements made by EA executives, including one made by CEO Andrew Wilson saying that the game had achieved "a level of quality at launch that we didn't get to last time and our teams are already starting to think about investment in new innovation for the future."

However, US District Judge Susan Illston said that the claims made by EA CFO Blake Jorgensen and EA CEO Andrew Wilson were no more than "puffery" and "corporate optimism", and there was no basis to pursue fraud claims because "the complaint fails to adequately allege falsity and scienter for reasons articulated by defendants."

Upon its release, Battlefield 4 experienced a number of problems, such as server limitations, connectivity issues, lost data, repeated sudden crashes and error messages, resulting in a near unplayable game.

EA has since admitted that these problems have led to a loss of player trust.

"I can absolutely say that we lost [player] trust in the game's launch and the early parts of the year," producer David Sirland told Gamespot. "We still probably have a lot of players who won't trust us to deliver a stable launch or a stable game. I don't want to say anything because I want to 'do'. I want them to look at what we're doing and what we are going to do and that would be my answer. I think we have to 'do' things to get them to trust us, not say things to get them to trust us. Show by doing."

The courts verdict is currently in EA's favour, however, Kelly and Mastro have until 3 November to alter their complaint.